Sailors from USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) took part in a culinary training school and competition over seven weeks from January 17 to March 11. The 42nd Annual Military Culinary Arts Competitive Training event, held at Fort Pickett and Fort Lee, Virginia, included all branches of the military. This event consisted of six weeks of hands-on training at Fort Pickett, concluding with a week–long competition at Fort Lee.

Seaman Lucas was awarded the 2017 Best in Class award for the training program.

“For my competition meal, I cooked a trout with white wine beurre blanc, asparagus, tomato concasse, potato tourne and a carrot puree,” said Lucas. “Overall, I’d say it was really fun. I learned a lot and, together, we put a lot of time into training, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

For the competition, each contestant was allotted 50 minutes to prepare his or her meal and 60 minutes of time to cook it.

“This was the first time I’ve been in a culinary competition,” said Rougier. “It was new to me, but we had a lot of support and great instructors during training.”

To be considered for the training course, each contestant had to fill out an application to be selected.

“It was really competitive,” said Allen. “I also learned a lot, and it was really good for me to be able to participate in this competition so early in my Navy career. I’ll definitely be taking away a few lessons and experience from this.”